Iranian vessels were manning weapons as they confronted a U.S. Navy flotilla that was passing through a crucial shipping lane in international waters on Tuesday, according to an American admiral.
“[Iranian boats] were in the middle of international transit waters [while] we had a right to be there,” Rear Adm. Kenneth Whitesell told reporters aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, per Reuters. “They had some of the weapons manned. We also have aerial data that they were arming all of these weapons.”
Iran’s fast-attack vessels can’t match the firepower of a U.S. warship, but they still approached to within a thousand yards of the aircraft carrier Bush and four other ships, including a French destroyer. It was the first time a U.S. carrier had tried to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world for the oil industry, since President Trump took office.
“[Iran has] every right to come out and see who we are and query what our intentions are,” Capt. Will Pennington, Bush’s commanding officer, told reporters. “It is the method with which they do that which is unprofessional and adds greater risk to miscalculation in our need to maneuver the ship, and often presents a risk to the merchant traffic that’s around us.”
The incident continues a trend of Iranian vessels harassing U.S. and other ships in international waters. In February, Iranian-backed militants in Yemen used a fast-attack boat loaded with explosives to attack a Saudi Arabian ship.
“While one U.S. defense official said the Iranian-backed Houthi suicide bombers appeared to know they were attacking a Saudi-flagged vessel, another Pentagon official says a video recorded by rebels seemed to give the impression the attackers might have thought the ship was a U.S. Navy vessel,” the Washington Examiner reported at the time.
